


Angels and Acts

by Crowsister



Series: Daughters & Decisions [2]
Category: Star Wars Legends: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords, Star Wars Legends: The Old Republic
Genre: Multi, Other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-07-23
Updated: 2017-01-10
Packaged: 2018-04-10 21:46:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 19,510
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4409018
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Crowsister/pseuds/Crowsister
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Heroes oftentimes face harsh transitions. It is a test to adapt. Kaiadri Sokol is one such hero. On hiatus.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Whiplash

Kaiadri sat within the shuttle, arms crossed as she overlooked the peaceful forests of Tython. She looked to the shuttle's singular guard, asking, “So...you do this often?”

“It’s my job. So...yes.”

“Ah, right right. Say...how’s the weather down on Tython?”

“I’m never on planet long enough to tell. Hear it’s nice.”

“Wonderful.”

“How was working for SIS?”

Kaiadri paused in her response. “It was...it was...” She took a deep breath. “It was _great_.” It was home. She ran a hand through her orange hair, ruffling the pompadour slightly. “Working for SIS was great.”

She couldn’t see the guard’s expression due to his helmet, but she could tell he felt a little bad about bringing that up now. His shoulders raised like he was trying to take up less space. He stiffened too. She let out a sigh.

She had worked in the SIS since she was 18. Now she was 26 and going to become a Jedi Padawan. All because she was a late bloomer with the Force.

* * *

_ Her blue eyes lit up with frustration as she circled her sparring opponent. Theron Shan, the hotshot who destroyed the Imperial Sun Razor. The rumored son of Jedi Grand Master Satele Shan. The SIS Director’s golden boy. _

_“C’mon, Kai, some of us don’t have all day,” Shan taunted, following her as she circled him. She went to punch him. She finally landed a punch on him. That had been her goal ever since they started sparring together at the Director's insistence -- just to land one punch on Theron Shan's being._

_But she finally managed not because of any improvements in her skill. It had been because she had also lifted one of the sparring staves and smacked him in the back with it. With the Force. She hadn’t laid a single finger on the staves and couldn’t have, with him being between her and the staves._

_She had finally landed a punch on him, thanks to the Force._

* * *

When the shuttle landed, she rose from her seat slowly. Kaiadri Sokol walked like she was being escorted into a prison. But the long and elegant architecture of the Jedi Temple spoke otherwise. Being a Jedi...it was supposed to be great, right?

Then why did it feel like she was walking into a nightmare?

Kaiadri pulled from her path through the doors, going to look over the scenery of Tython. Two large statues of robed men holding lightsabers looked out over the area from a river, one seemingly staring into her eyes solemnly. The look was familiar.

* * *

_ “As it stands right now, Agent Sokol, you have two choices,” the Director stated. “You either go through Jedi training or you go to the Jedi Service Corps.” _

_Kaiadri looked at him with wide eyes. “Sir, I-”_

_“If you turn out to not be strong enough to be a Jedi Knight, they’ll send you to the Service Corps anyway. To farm or to be a medical practitioner. Maybe teach or explore,” he continued. “But I cannot let you stay as part of the SIS while you are not trained. And even once you’re trained, there’s no guarantee the Jedi Council will let me take you back into the SIS. I’m...I’m sorry, Kaiadri.”_

_“...I’m s-sorry too.” She wiped tears from her eyes, taking a shaky inhale. Her eyeliner was running down her cheek. “I’m sorry too.”_

_“I know this is difficult for you, but...I know you’re strong enough to make this transition. You’ll make a great future, wherever you go.”_

_“...but I don’t want to g-go.”_

* * *

Kaiadri took a deep breath, backing away from the sight. She turned from the solemn eyes, hands nervously twitching into the sleeves of her training robes. She knew she’d trip over the back of the coat -- she had never worn a coat so long, what if she had to backpedal or to roll away from something, what if-

“You’re supposed to go to the door over there,” the guard’s voice, the same guard from the shuttle, cut into her anxious thoughts. Kaiadri jumped when he first spoke, turning towards him and putting her hand to her hip, where her blaster pistol used to be. All her hand met was soft cloth.

“R-right, thank you, um...I never caught your name.”

“Just call me Vinny. Stay safe, Age-...Padawan.”

“...you too, Vinny.”

With that, she began to walk towards the door Vinny had pointed to. She walked through the door, seeing an older Jedi Master sitting at a desk with a computer at it. He looked over at her and began to rise from his seat.

“Ah, Padawan. I heard your shuttle arriving. I'm Master Syo Bakarn, of the Jedi Council. Welcome to Tython. This is the ancestral home of our order, where Jedi first came to be. And where our most promising Padawans complete their training,” he stated as he moved around the desk he had been sitting at.

“Most promising...I...I’m not quite certain I _fit_ that description, but I suppose I’ll do my best to step into it,” Kaiadri muttered before clearing her throat. She replied, “I'm surprised a member of the Jedi Council would come to meet me.”

“I wanted to meet the student who's caused such a stir. Your instructors tell me that you have a remarkable connection to the Force. You've quickly adapted to it, all within a few years. We haven't seen such power in decades,” Master Bakarn remarked. He shuffled his feet a little, looking past Kaiadri out the door. “I was...hoping your new Master would be here. Yuon left her dig site and is returning to Tython specifically to train you.”

“She left her dig site...just to train me?” Kaiadri asked, biting her lip.

“Yes she did, but it seems she’s late. I suppose it gives me a moment to give you some words of wisdom.” Kaiadri had to restrain herself from rolling her eyes. Jedi speech -- always useful. The wise words of one rebel fighter on Balmorra, ones she had overheard muttered under their breath during her assignment there.

“As you become her Padawan, never forget your initial training, nor the Jedi Code,” Master Barkarn stated.

* * *

_ Kaiadri sat in the Jedi training barracks within a locked away part of Tython. Those that were Padawans without a master, proto-Padawans in a manner of speaking, shared large rooms together. Bunk-beds and cots assembled through the underground room, each carrying a sleeping person. Except for hers. _

_She had chosen an isolated cot in the corner of the room closest to the door. That would make it easier to escape if there was an emergency of some kind. And she could keep watch on some nights, the nights where she could not sleep._

_Her SIS training of facial manipulation had come in handy. She almost cried when she was presented with Jedi robes. Easier for the Force, the Jedi Knight supervisor had said. The robes made it easier for the Force to move through you._

_All Kaiadri felt moving through her was homesickness. She wanted to return to her apartment on Coruscant, send a coded letter to her friends -- she wanted her old life back. Even if she knew she couldn’t have it._

_She had taken the robes with a serene look on her face._

* * *

“There is no emotion, there is peace.”

* * *

_ Cold indifference. The two words that fit the older Padawan, Jazlyn. A Miraluka in robes, thick with armor. White hair framing a pale face. Two metallic cards over the eye sockets, empty of emotion. “Go through the meditation again, Kaiadri.” _

_This wasn’t what the Jedi Code called for. There was emotion in trying to find peace. Hesitation, anxiety. “I...I don’t seem to be understanding the instructions, Jazlyn, I-”_

_“Go through it again, Kaiadri. You need to be able to grasp the Force should you want to be a Jedi Knight. You said you did, did you not? So attempt communing with the Force again.”_

* * *

“There is no ignorance, there is knowledge.”

* * *

_ “I...I don’t understand the concept because of the way you’re framing the words, Master. Could you say it in another manner?” _

_“You have learned the concept I was trying to teach, Kaiadri. If you do not understand the words of someone, ask them again. You are allowed to, you know.”_

_Kaiadri felt closer to being able to smile sincerely than she had in months._

* * *

“There is no passion, there is serenity.”

* * *

_ “I ask you again, Kaiadri Sokol of the Nar Shaddaa streets -- do you still want to become a Jedi Knight?” _

_“I want to protect people still, even if I’m...even if I am Force sensitive now.”_

_“You do not have to be a Knight to do so -- you could still help people in the manner that you seek within the Service Corps.”_  
_“Master-”_

_“You can address me by my name, Kaiadri.”_

_“Britade, I feel that both training to be a Knight and serving within the Service Corps are noble things to do. But I feel that I should at least_ try _to be a Knight before packing up and going to the Service Corps.”_

_“I see. This is a decision driven by your own logic, not by passion, yes?”_

_“Well...it would be a lie to say it’s as simple as that. My passion, my dream of life, has been to help people. To help the people of the streets. To give someone else what was given to me.”_

_“It has been thus since you were 18?”_

_“Yes.”_

_“This passion has never overshadowed your logic, correct?”_

_“It’s fueled my logic, but has never overridden my reasoning towards anything.”_

_“Then you have found serenity.”_

_“I...I guess?”_

* * *

“There is no chaos, there is harmony. There is no death, there is the Force,” Master Bakarn finished.

Kaiadri stood as she had been since she entered the room, not moving or sitting down in case he interpreted that as a sign of disrespect. Last thing she wanted was a miscommunication with a member of the Jedi Council.

Master Barkarn started his next sentence looking at her, but ended it looking past her towards the door. “This is...Yuon. I was beginning to worry.”

A woman walked into the room, her hair up in a high ponytail and her age showing on her face. Kaiadri’s eyes were pulled to Master Yuon’s fingers -- tapping, a quick pattern, no rhythm. Just tapping at her thighs through her robes. She was worried, anxious. Kaiadri felt herself relax.

At least she wasn’t alone in that regard.

“So you've arrived safely, my Padawan. I'm sorry I can't greet you properly, but we already have a crisis on our hands,” Master Yuon stated.


	2. Words, Words, Words

Kaiadri took a deep breath, processing everything that had been tossed out of that whirlwind and compacting it into an SIS style mission briefing. This was the third time since she had gotten out of the taxi from the Initiate Center to the base of the Path that she had done so.

“Operation: Still Words,” she muttered to herself as she launched herself up a tree to dodge a rather hungry hostile unit. Flesh Raiders is what Yuon dubbed them as and Kaiadri didn’t want to test if the faction just killed for sport or for food. The tinkling bone necklace and array of sharp teeth pointed to the latter, but Kaiadri held up hope that it was for sport. Easier to dodge a sportsman than a hunter, especially while attempting to obtain delicate targets. “Four basic targets, each at a station along the stone path. Acquire targets, intact, and meet at the rendezvous point at the Jedi Temple. Hostile invasion of area by Flesh Raider faction, which is currently being dealt with by a Master Orgus and Padawan Jazlyn. Help wounded and tag them for pickup at will, but priority lies with the retrieval of the four holocron targets.”

Rather than repeat her briefing to herself again, she unhitched her vibrosword from her back. “Simple enough. First thing’s first.” She turned on the vibroblade, cutting off the long part of her training robe’s jacket. It fell onto the face of her Flesh Raider attacker at the foot of the tree, confused grunts coming from the mouth. Kaiadri took the moment of confusion to jump back down, knocking the Flesh Raider to the forest floor with a grunt. She stabbed the Raider in the neck with her left hand, lifting her right hand up to lift a nearby (moderately sized) rock from the ground to knock a second attacker attempting to join the fray away. She pulled her right hand and the rock away, launching her vibrosword at the attacker with her left hand and the Force. She pulled her left hand back, her hilt meeting her palm again. “Pure pazaak,” she muttered, letting herself smirk.

“A Jedi is silent and calm in their dealings.”

Kaiadri glanced over her shoulder to see Jazlyn, the older Miraluka girl who had helped her with feeling the Force. Kaiadri shrugged. “What can I say, I’m chatty.”

Jazlyn let out a snort, kneeling and looking down at the Flesh Raider corpses. “You have gotten neater with your execution.”

“You’re complimenting me. I might faint.”

“I was not finished. Your execution is neater, but you are clumsy with the vibrosword. When you are finished with your business, ask your master for double-bladed vibrosword. You are much more adapt at quarterstaff fighting than you are with a singular blade. That way, you might last longer.” Jazlyn stood back up, crossing her arms.

“There it is, there’s the Jazlyn I know and... _know_.” Kaiadri snorted lightly. “You’re with Master Orgus for the Flesh Raider sitch, yeah?”

“Correct.”

“Try the caves across the river. Their forces look thicker over there. If you could run distraction while I pick up some holocrons from the Path of Learning, I’m sure Master Yuon would appreciate it. You don’t care if I would appreciate it, but hey Master Yuon would.”

Jazlyn snorted again, turning her head to face the river. “It’s the Path of Foundation, but yes. I will draw their forces away as you run your lore keeping errand.”

“Great, wonderful. See you-” Jazlyn was already sprinting off in the middle of Kaiadri’s sentence. Kaiadri sighed. “Later. I guess I’d miss your grumpy frowning face.” She looked about, finding her way to the stone path.

* * *

First target was easy. Base of the Path, thin layer of Flesh Raiders and animals around it. She managed to sneak around them, finding the old holocron interface and working her way through how to remove it from the base. She jumped when the holocron burst to life.

“Activation protocol begins.” The simply cloaked Jedi Master bowed, a serene smile on his bearded face. “So, after the long silence, finally someone comes.”

“Master, I’m going to need you to be slightly more quiet. We’ve got hostile forces surrounding your uh...stand and I’m trying to pull an evac,” Kaiadri muttered.

“I am Garon Jarn. Millennia ago, I stood as a part of the first generation of Padawans of the Jedi Order, of Master Bao-Dur.” He at least took her request for a lower volume, but Kaiadri wished he hadn’t spoken at all. Less risk of being heard and discovered.

“Well, it’s lovely to meet your acquaintance, Master Garon. I’m Padawan Kaiadri Sokol, your evac team. As in we’re going to be leaving shortly and don’t have time for much chatter once you run through your activation protocol.”

“I see Master Atton’s teachings still thrive to this day.”

“Eh, that part doesn’t come from Jedi training.”

“Ah, I see.”

“Your activation protocol have anything else? Or is it just introduction?”

“I am to state that, as a Jedi in Master Bao-Dur’s school of learning, I am dedicated to the upkeep of peace. To calming our emotions and ending war across the galaxy. If the Jedi fought, my master taught that it should only be in self defense. I believe it to be a founding principle of civilization.”

“What about the little people who don’t have supernatural powers and laser swords?” Kaiadri asked. “Say, an orphan on the streets of Nar Shaddaa. Someone who can’t fight for themselves.”

“Indeed, we must consider those who cannot fight for themselves. But we must do so knowing the mark it will leave upon history, ourselves, and those we fight for. Thus was the teaching of Master Tatiana Ardonel, Grand Master of the Second Jedi Order. The Jedi may have changed since Master Tatiana's time, but galactic peace has always remained one of our goals. Activation protocol complete. Go well, Padawan Kaiadri.”

She gave a soft sigh as he disappeared and she disconnected the holocron. “Target one, acquired,” she muttered to herself.

* * *

“Activation protocol begins. Ah. Another has come to listen. When the Jedi Order was refounded by the Lost Jedi, I, Cala Brin, followed the teachings of Visas Marr and said we should devote ourselves to justice. True justice cannot be driven by emotion. We Jedi can set our passions aside and seek the truth without fear or favor.”

“If you can’t feel mercy, justice suffers. You’ll just be another tyrant,” Kaiadri muttered as she fiddled with the holocron base, readying the holocron for extraction when the activation protocol was complete.

This holocron, the one of Master Cala Brin, was fond of talking at her it seemed. Kaiadri didn’t mind -- if there was anything she learned about Jedi, it was that it was more agreeable to let them talk at her. Made things go smoother.

She noted the words -- “Sorrow for the victim or outrate at the crime can blind us. To see clearly, such feelings must be put aside. It has serves us well. We Jedi are renowned for our fairness, our honesty. Now, that reputation is yours to keep.” -- and noted it mostly sounded fake. Like reading off a script almost. That’s what her SIS training was telling her at this rate.

“Activation protocol complete.” Kaiadri gave a soft thank you before pulling out the holocron and setting it in her pack with the other one.

* * *

“Activation protocol begins.”

“Here we go again,” Kaiadri murmured, humming a soft tune as she kept one eye on the man who appeared in the holocron’s light and one on the materials she was working with.

“A new Jedi comes to learn? Excellent, excellent.”

“I’m your evac team, Master,” she muttered in a practiced tone. “This Path is unsafe and you must be moved for your own safety. I’m Padawan Kaiadri Sokol.”  
“I am Ters Sendor, keeper of history. I was taught by Mical Ardonel, one of the Lost Jedi and refounder of the Jedi Order. I am a chronicler of the Jedi Order. Master Mical saw the Jedi becoming the guardians of knowledge and secrets. We Jedi would safeguard the wisdom of the galaxy.”

“Sounds like a real blast, Master Ters,” Kaiadri responded. “A regular Jaqs’bawnd adventure.”

“I remember when Master Atton was penning Jaqs’bawnd.”

“Hold up, a Jedi wrote Jaqs’bawnd? That definitely doesn’t sound right.”

“Master Mical described it as therapy for what occurred between Master Atton and the Master of the Order, Tatiana Ardonel. The Jedi Exile of the first Order of Jedi.”

“Huh. We’re chatting about that later.”

“I suspected as much, Padawan. Jedi seek to dispel ignorance and I shall do such for you, even on such a harmless looking topic as the origins of the Jaqs'bawnd stories. To understand such history would be the first step for you to understand other cultures and for you to bring that understanding to others. Never forget that, wherever your path leads.”

Kaiadri paused in her electrical work, blinking. She looked up at Master Ters. “I won’t, Master. If I had to pick a favorite of the holocron masters I’ve picked up on this path, right now you’d be my favorite.”

Master Ters gave a soft chuckle, “I suspect that runs in the family, my dear. Activation protocol complete.” He shut himself off before Kaiadri could ask more.

“...well then,” Kaiadri replied, pulling his holocron out and sticking her tongue at the green and silver contraption. “Such a tease.”

* * *

Kaiadri waited for the usual chatty holocron activation protocol (only Jedi would making chatter a part of an activation protocol for removal of holocrons -- she flashed back to that one Balmorran sniper and his phrase pertaining Jedi speech and its usefulness. The more time she spent on Tython -- four hours, twenty three minutes, ten seconds -- the more she was appreciating that phrase.

“Jedi speech -- always useful,” she muttered to herself, opening the panel below the holocron base. She blinked as she found it empty. “Empty -- can’t be Flesh Raiders, too clean. Should call in with Yuon, hope she’s not angry.” She looked up at the sky, seeing that it had turned from the late morning she arrived at to approaching dusk. She took out her holocommunicator that Yuon gave her. As Yuon materialized in the palm of her hand, she sighed. “Three holocrons retrieved, but it looks like number four was stolen. Too clean to be Flesh Raiders.”

“That’s most unfortunate. Bring what you have to the Temple and we’ll set about trying to find the fourth holocron tomorrow. You did well, my padawan. You’ve earned some rest.”

“With all due respect, Master Yuon, there’s still one missing. I’ll try to see if I can find any tracks, it looks like I can find something. I can last another hour out here, at least. Especially since Padawan Jazlyn seems to have taken out most of the Flesh Raiders in the area.” Kaiadri kept her face schooled into focus. The forest was more preferable place to be then the big sacrimonious Temple itself. Even if the forest had animals that’d eat her, the animals felt safer than other Jedi right now while she was in mission mode.

“Alright. If you stay out any longer than an hour, I’ll send someone to look for you.”

“I’ll behave, Master.” She gave the holo a winning smile. “Padawan’s pinky promise. Oh! Can you do me a favor while I’m still out? Padawan Jazlyn suggested I equip myself with a double-sided blade of some sort over the training vibrosword since not good with single-sided weapons, but I’m thinking a retractable quarterstaff might be better for size purposes. If you could get in contact with SIS Director Trant for me, he’ll be able to get mine from my old apartment on Coruscant.”

That got a chuckle out of Yuon. “Very well, Kaiadri, I will try to get your things. I will also hold you to that promise.”

Kaiadri felt her shoulders relax when Yuon hung up. She muttered, “Nice lady, but Jedi freak me out. Ugh, I just remembered I’m a Jedi. Weird.” She knelt down at the base again, tracing the opening into the guts of it. “Note to self: never do the mind trick thing. That trick’s kriffing creepy.”

* * *

“Huh,” Kaiadri muttered to herself, leaning in her tree perch looking over the Twi’lek village she had found with the tracks from the theft. “Huh. Pretty sure Republic says this sort of village is illegal.”

“I am fairly certain that you were supposed to be with your master half an hour ago,” a Trandoshan hiss came from below her.

Kaiadri whipped around, unhitching her vibrosword and pointing it at the intruder. She recognized the Trandoshan man, relaxing slightly as she looked over the red scales and tracing along the waves of green scales along his cheeks. “Brishkah Iskoh? Is that you, you slithery son of a bantha?”

“Yes, it is I, Brishkah Iskoh. Thought you were spy, not Jedi.”

“You and me both, buddy. You and me both.”

“You are the huntress that is commonly surprised.”  
“You are a riot, Brish. An absolute riot. I take it Yuon sent you out for me? What are you doing on this rock, anyway?”

“Hunting with my uncle. He watches me for respect of my late father until he dubs me talented enough for hunting on my own. Says my father did not teach me enough to survive.”

“I know the feeling.” Kaiadri yawned, stretching and hopping down. She landed besides Brishkah. “How’ve you been since the Quesh op?”

“Mediocre. Eye loss has been annoying, but the cybernetic one is fine. Adequate.”

“Uh huh.”

The two headed back to the Temple. Kaiadri noted that it was nice, being treated as a person rather than a student or an errand girl. She hadn’t had that since she was found to be Force sensitive.

It was nice.

* * *

Kaiadri found her bunk in the Jedi temple, curious that she’d have a sense of privacy now. It was...appreciated.

She yet was surprised...to find her pillowcase stuffed with cybernetic implants. With...crusted blood on them? Kaiadri turned them over in her hands, not bothered by the dried and crusted blood. They were well preserved, but...obviously taken from a person. And not cleaned either. She hummed, putting them in another bag for another time.

Right now, the call of her pillow was strong. She face-planted into the bunk she was given and groaned softly as her body ached from everything. The Flesh Raiders, the many trees she climbed and vaulted off of to sneak around the Flesh Raiders that didn’t pick up her scent (she finally got the hang of figuring out which way was downwind), the landings from those jumps, carrying three heavy stone cubes for several hours and doing all the activities...

It all really hurt. A lot.

She rolled over slightly, looking at the bag of cybernetic implants. She hummed again, taking her datapad off the dresser with a nonchalant grip. She rolled onto her back, tapping and typing at the datapad and logging into one of the SIS chat channel for undercover agents. She made up a quick screenname, picking from the nicknames she had gotten from sparring with other students.

_whirlwind_dancer entered channel **“Carpet Sales”**_

Kaiadri raised an eyebrow. “Really, Jonas?”

_whirlwind_dancer: carpet sales! oh boy, my favorite topic of discussion_

_LadizzTheresaLine: Finally, someone else who shares my enthusiasm! Say, you like typical Nar Shaddaa nylon or are you fond of Coruscant polyester?_

_whirlwind_dancer: always gotta go nylon. neon orange nylon, yknow like the hair dye they keep down in most convenience stores on coruscant. it can be tacky if not applied right, yknow?_

_LadizzTheresaLine: Say, I think we’ve spoken before! Are you Kee’lan Shanel? We spoke a little at the Data-spike’s Resort_

_whirlwind_dancer: its keelan elbes, you always mix up my last name with your friends. if thats jonesy lockley, can you get your friend the uh...the guy who was advertising the Arks Jobs By Ens?_

She knew Jonas would get a kick out of “Arks Jobs By Ens” -- if there was one thing Kaiadri and Jonas traded on many the occasion was anagrams and “Arks Jobs By Ens” was one of Kai’s go-tos for referring to Theron: Snobby Jerkass.

_LadizTheresaLine: Sure can! He’s bored right now anyway, he got in trouble with his manager and now has to do some less than ideal babysitting._

_whirlwind_dancer: sounds like a fun time. c8 <_

_LadizTheresaLine: Oh, you have no idea, Kee’lan. No idea. Absolute roflcopter. Gimme a sec, brb. Gotta drag him out from his cave._

Kaiadri waited, letting herself grin. It was nice to have the back and forth with Jonas again. He was her best friend on every level -- he held her hand and helped her get her first apartment, took her to get her vaccines for every disease that she missed getting vaccines for as a kid, bought her half of the Master’s Collection of Jaqs’bawnd original drafts (he “bullied” Theron to get her the other half).

They were just...good for each other.

* * *

Kaiadri sat in the cafeteria, picking a corner for herself. She picked it her usual way -- the corner closest to the door. She pushed about her lunch in its bowl, trying to push down the awe and guilt about having this much food (she should be sharing, but apparently this was the minimum portions for all students at the school and the smallest the lunch lady would let her go with and she wouldn’t be persuaded to give some to maybe some homeless people outside the school or something). She had to hide the awe and guilt because nobody should know that something was intensely wrong with her, that she grew up with a broken childhood. Nobody could know that. They’d treat her special and she didn’t want special, she wanted to earn her place.

“Hey there, anybody sitting at this table?”

Kaiadri looked up to find her partner from the simulation, Jonas Balkar, standing beside her table with a tray and a bowl of his own. He was right -- they did look similar. If she was slightly more flat-chested with broader shoulders and a rounder face, they’d be twins. Especially with the same shade of brown hair.

She apparently took too long to answer, because he picked up with ease, sliding onto the bench across from her. “No, just you? Okay, thanks for the seat.”

“...no problem, I guess,” she muttered softly, looking down at her bowl.

“Oh boy, what’s got you down in the blues?” he asked, spooning out some of his lunch and sticking the spoon into his mouth and talking still with his food and his spoon in his mouth. “Wash it Theron? I dunt know the guy yet but he seemed salty you distwacted him so smoothly. Nice job, by the way, that was classic shtuff!”

“Chew and swallow before you choke.” Kaiadri looked up at him, raising an eyebrow. “What’re you after?”

Jonas paused a moment, taking his time with the food in his mouth. Kaiadri figured he was thinking over what to say next, how to sugarcoat things.

He said slowly, “I’m not after anything.” Kaiadri raised her other eyebrow at his choice of words. “Honest! You seem fun and y’know. Interesting. Also really cynical.”

“Fun and interesting is debatable, but I can confirm the cynical part,” she replied, looking back down at her bowl.

“Aw, c’mon. Fake modesty does no good anywhere. Be fake confident, fake it ‘till you make it.”

Kaiadri looked back up and let a bit of surprise show on her face as she noticed him smiling, her gut telling her it was sincere. She covered her surprise with a snort, looking down at her food again.

She didn’t notice he distracted her into taking a bite of her food.

* * *

 

_data-spyke_hair007 entered channel **“Carpet Sales”**_

“That’s a Jonas username if I ever saw one,” she muttered softly, snorting softly to herself. “Jaqs’bawnd’s callsign and my old nickname for Theron? Jonas, all over.”

_data-spyke_hair007: Kee’lan? You still about?_

_whirlwind_dancer: im still about_

_whirlwind_dancer: im supposed to be sleeping, but whatever. sleeps overrated_

_LadizTheresaLine: You can tell she’s tired by how sloppy her typing is._

_whirlwind_dancer: it was a long first day at the office with the new bosss_

_data-spyke_hair007: How’s the new boss?_

_whirlwind_dancer: eh_

_whirlwind_dancer: nerdy, likes her rocks_

_whirlwind_dancer: keeps weird company, had some lizards about. one we know too_

_whirlwind_dancer: not what i asked jonesey to snab you for thou_

_whirlwind_dancer: jonesy*_

_whirlwind_dancer: got a package for your company, but i think it neerds checking over contentwise_

_whirlwind_dancer: needs*_

_LadizTheresaLine: Nice typing there, sport._

_whirlwind_dancer: kiss a carpet, jojo_

_LadizTheresaLine: Already did. Lovely Wookie last week._

_data-spyke_hair007: He’s lying. Is the package pink or brown?_

_whirlwind_dancer: pink, drf piiiiiiiiiinnk_

_whirlwind_dancer: def*_

_data-spyke_hair007: Gotcha. Should be a secluded corner in the attic where the birds fly in & outs. I’ll be there tomorrow for the pink package. I’m sorry our company got it wrong. _

Kaiadri raised her eyebrows again, tilting her head. She shook her head, typing.

_whirlwind_dancer: not like u guys were the ones doing security that messed up my package. thou, i’ll take a date as compensenation_

_whirlwind_dancer: compensation*_

_whirlwind_dancer: ;)_

_LadizTheresaLine: Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep. She’s sleep-deprived, she’s asking you on a date._

_LadizTheresaLine: I’m framing that series of pixels for the wedding._

_data-spyke_hair007: shut it, jonesey_

_whirlwind_dancer: yeah u heard the man, shut it jonesey_

_whirlwind_dancer: jonesyyyyy* w/ extra y for why r u taking advantage of my poor sleepy state to make fun of me_

_LadizTheresaLine: Look, all I’m saying is that neither of you know if the other’s blushing right now_

_data-spyke_hair007: Look, not the point of this conversation. I’ll be there, I’ll let you know when I’m there._

_data-spyke_hair007 left channel **“Carpet Sales”**_

_LadizTheresaLine: Aaaaaaaaaaaaaand there he goes, like a frowning squirrel into the night._

_whirlwind_dancer: pffffffffffft jojo nono_

_LadizTheresaLine: jojo yesyes_

_whirlwind_dancer: r u makin fun of me m8?_

_LadizTheresaLine: I have no idea where you’re getting that impression. It’s been a while, at any rate, Kee’lan. We need to catch up when you’re settled._

_whirlwind_dancer: tru facts. missed you, sall a bunch of stiffs about here_

_LadizTheresaLine: Just don’t be a stranger, kay? With me or our buddy. He’ll never admit it, but he missed you._

_whirlwind_dancer: yes and drumund kasss became republic capital_

_whirlwind_dancer: the ewoks run bout with lightsaber claymores_

_whirlwind_dancer: nd i no longer dye my hair_

_LadizTheresaLine: I’m serious, K. He did. It was like...200% grumpy time whenever you weren’t typing at us._

_whirlwind_dancer: srry i dnt get to type all the time with training_

_whirlwind_dancer: specially w/ the forced clean slate n lack of my stuff_

_LadizTheresaLine: I figured, just...you know._

_whirlwind_dancer: yeah dont be a dtrangerdanger_

_whirlwind_dancer: strangerdanger*_

_LadizTheresaLine: Oh, go sleep. It’s less overrated than you think right now, you’re just hyped to see our buddy._

_whirlwind_dancer: no xp u r wrong_

_whirlwind_dancer: he is my worst enemy besidesssss triple encrypted holo-interfaces_

_whirlwind_dancer: kriffing tripple encrypted holo-interfaxes_

_LadizTheresaLine: Uh huh. Go sleep, K._

_whirlwind_dancer: fiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiine_

_whirlwind_dancer: dont flirt w/ wookies thye might be married and u will get ur arm torn off and then i cant hug yr stupid jerkass off the floro_

_LadizTheresaLine: I’ll do my best, but Wookies are irresistable, K._

_whirlwind_dancer: my foot is irresssssistable in its trajectory_

 

Jonas didn’t reply beyond that, so he must have figured out she’d keep responding the more he did. She sighed softly, putting the datapad aside and looking up at the ceiling.

“It’s only day one. It’s only day one of the op,” she muttered softly. “Let’s see how days two and three go before we start cursing and swearing at it.” She shut her eyes, laying there awake for an hour or two before she drifted numbly asleep.


	3. Missed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kaiadri meets a few new faces, greats some older ones, and follows the trail ahead of her.

Day Two of _Operation: Still Words_. Kaiadri rolled out of her bunk, groggily hunted for a caf machine and found none, and then slowly picked her way to Yuon’s quarter’s again.

She yawned softly and scanned the room again lightly. Only one point of entrance and exit. Either Jedi were arrogantly certain in their status or they naively thought no one would attack them ever. She was too tired to scan anything else in the room.

She saw a tall green scaled Trandoshan muttering and whispering with her master. She decided not to interrupt them, leaning against the doorway.

“Little hunter is without her morning drink,” Brishkah’s voice replied from her right. She looked over and gave him a swift nod. “Thought that might be a problem.” Kaiadri felt a warm object press against her arm and she snapped out of her haze to find Brishkah holding out a cup of caf to her.

“...Brish, you are my savior, I would’ve died without this.” Kaiadri began chugging the hot caf, suppressing a soft groan of delight at the feeling of her entire body waking up.

“Data hunter did say to carry packs of quick caf when on missions with you, little hunter.” Brishkah didn’t flinch when Kai almost snorted out her drink. She paused in her drinking, looking at Brishkah’s impassive face with raised eyebrows and wide blue eyes.

“Theron gave you that tip? Not Jonas?” she asked.

“Yes.”

“...never mention that to Jonas. Or anyone else working at SIS. Ever.”

“Funny, Data hunter said the same warning. Thought since little hunter is now a Jedi and not SIS it would be okay to mention to you.”

Kaiadri blinked a few moments before pinching the bridge of her nose and muttering, “I’m going to need another caf to get over that.”

“Finish your first, little hunter.” If Kaiadri didn’t know any better, Brishkah would’ve sounded...amused. Incredibly so.

Kaiadri’s grumpy grumbling got interrupted as Master Yuon and her other Trandoshan noticed her.

Yuon swapped from her muttered sentence to a fully heard call. Kaiadri, with her sharp hearing, caught that swap. “I haven’t-Padawan. Come in. This is Qyzen Fess, an old friend. He and his nephew, who you seem to be getting acquainted to, are here on a hunting expedition, a sacred Trandoshan tradition.”

“Honor to meet you and all that, Qyzen.” Kai rose her cup of caf in greeting to him as she hopped out of the doorway, sauntering in slowly as Yuon kept speaking.

Qyzen put his hand to his chest and bowed his head slightly. Kai heard Brishkah snort softly. “Is welcome, small hunter. But have scouting, before light changes. Scorekeeper watch over. Brishkah, come.”

“Coming, Hunt-mentor,” Brishkah replied, getting up from his leaning position against the doorway. Brishkah gave a nod to Kaiadri before the two of them left. Kaiadri focused her attention to Yuon.

“Some people, even some Jedi, disapprove of my friendship with Qyzen. I wanted you to meet, before rumors prejudiced you.”

“Master Yuon, I’ve been friends with Brish for some...huh, it’s been two years since the Quesh op. I’ve been pretty solid friends with Brish for two years. I ain’t gonna judge you for your friends so long as you don’t judge me and mine too harshly. Then again...maybe some of them think I’m dead since I haven’t been able to really...talk to them.” Kaiadri bit her lip, scratching the back of her head and shrugging at Yuon’s slight pained look at that.

“Ah, I see...this is one of the reasons I have had your care package from home expanded with a few additions.” Yuon smiled at Kaiadri’s surprised jump and stare. “You were funneled into the traditional preparation for Jedi training, but you have not transitioned well between the two lifestyles, have you?”

Kaiadri was speechless, slightly frozen for a few seconds before she snapped out of it. “...in all honesty, Master Yuon...no, I haven’t. This is all mystical mojo that is way over my sort of comfort zone.”

“That was the impression I received from talking to Brishkah. I...I am sorry you had to undergo the events that happened on Taris under Padawan Ki Sazen. I want to assure-”

“Not all Jedi are like that.” Kaiadri gave a crooked smile, running her fingers through her hair. “I know, Master Yuon. Besides, one plus of being Force Sensitive is that no one will ever be able to use the Force to mind control me ever again.”

“With training, yes. Once we finish this recovery effort, that will be the first thing I train you in. I promise. But first, go upstairs to the shuttle pad. Your care package is waiting with your friend. His name is Theron...Shan, yes?”

“Yeah, but don’t linger too long on the last name, it makes him grumpy. Well.” Kaiadri snorted at her own inside joke with herself. “Grumpier. I’ll be back, Master Yuon, then by golly gosh we are gonna wrangle ourselves a holocron.”

Yuon chuckled at her words. “Take your time, Padawan. The Force moves in mysterious ways.”

Kaiadri gave her a half salute before finishing her cup of caf and booking it. She dove and wove her way through the assorted robes and tunics, turning them and the floor into pillars and pools of lava not to touch. She played her game of lava up to the second floor, snickering softly at the curious and annoyed expressions from Masters and Padawans alike. She sprung into a flip from the railing, landing neatly on her feet and fixing her hair into an understandable fuss rather than an unreliable fuss.

She saw Theron right at the base of the shuttle’s ramp. She didn’t blame him for sticking as close to the most non-Jedi space as possible. He trained here a bit as a proto-Padawan and probably went through all the shit she did, but at a much younger age. Suddenly, his grumpiness at all times made a little more sense.

She still wouldn’t remove it from her list of things to tease him about.

“Careful, Theron, I’m pretty sure glaring a hole into ancient stone and replacing the material might be a little out of your paycheck.” She folded her hands behind her head, fingers weaving lightly together in her hair, as she sauntered up to him.

Theron looked over at her and the glare let up into a stony glance. He definitely wasn’t comfortable here. At all. Usually, that sort of opening would’ve gotten some kind of verbal acknowledgement out of him, at the very least.

* * *

 

Theron and Kaiadri leaned against the railing, looking out over the wilderness of Quesh and watching the towers of smoke form a city in the sky. Theron’s jacket was a little torn, but at least his facial mask was still intact with its opaque red over his eyes was intact. Kai was a little worse for wear, but at least she still had a smile on her face under her mask.

“Hey Theron.”

He looked over at her, raising an eyebrow. “What, Kai? You wanna run me through the ringer like the op. leader?”

“Theron, I was just gonna say...not to keep frowning like that. You never know who could be falling in love with your smile. Like it’s not my cup of tea, but you never-”

There was the soft thunk of Theron’s forehead smacking down into his arms crossed on the railing and Kaiadri laughed as he let out a very quiet groan. She reached over and ruffled his hair, her laugh getting a little softer when he leaned his shoulder against hers. She wrapped an arm around him, letting him use her as a comfort zone as he came to terms with his actions and their consequences.

* * *

 

Kai decided to take some pity on him and moved to make the exchange fast, pulling the small bag of cybernetic implants out of her backpack.

“Here’s the pink package,” she replied, offering it to him. He took the bag. Kaiadri noted he had bags under his eyes, which wasn’t unusual with Theron. What was unusual was him having bags under his eyes while he was on Analysis Rotation. “You...you doin’ _okay_ , Theron?”

“Late shifts is all,” he answered, sighing. “Late shifts.”

“Once I, y’know...become a Knight and all that, you just lemme know when you need a break from all those late shifts. We’ll take a vacation.”

He snorted, rolling his eyes. “Vacation. I just love the sound of that word.” He sounded out the word slowly, his lips quirking up into a somewhat hidden smile as Kaiadri chuckled softly. “Vacaaaaaaa _aaaation_.”

“Between us...off the record...” Kaiadri looked around the room. None of the guards seemed to be paying them any mind. “...you’re still wearing the same kriffing jacket.”

“It’s new, just, y’know...same model of jacket. You’ve got no right to talk, you haven’t changed your hair since Jonas mixed hair dye into your shampoo. How are you even getting hair dye on Tython anyway?”

“In the words of the great-”

“If you quote Jaqs’bawnd at me, I will leave without handing over your stuff. And then you’ll be left in that torn jacket and-what sort of training is your master making you do?”

“Oh, the jacket was me. There were these things called Flesh Raiders and well I didn’t want my flesh to be raided in, y’know, the meal way-”

“I think I’m getting the picture.”

 “Yeah?” She tilted her head, silently challenging him. To do what, she didn’t even know.

“Yeah.”

The two of them looked at each other in the eye. Kaiadri had her hands on her hips and Theron had his arms crossed across his chest. The both of them had small smiles on their faces and they looked less...less tense than they did at the start of the conversation.

“I think you’re supposed to have a care package for me, hotshot,” Kaiadri replied, rolling her hand out for him to put stuff in it.

Theron rolled his eyes, smirking as he let out a snort. “I think you’re supposed to say _please_ , hothead.”

“Oh, Theron, would you **please** give me the stuff you were _assigned_ here to give me since I assume you haven’t told the Director about-”

She got a bag chucked at her and she laughed as Theron rolled his eyes at her.

“Take your stuff, hothead, and...y’know, I think my aim’s getting bad.”

She raised her eyebrows at him, holding the bag in her arms. “Why would you say that?”

“Because I missed you.”

Kai mustered up her self control and discipline to make sure her traitorous cheeks wouldn’t turn red. “Guess _my_ aim’s worse then!” she squeaked and ran back to her bunk, cursing her voice for squeaking and her ears for catching his laughter.

* * *

 

“First, thank you for saving the holocrons. The Jedi have lost enough lately without losing our history, too.”

“No problemo, Master Yuon,” Kaiadri responded, bowing her head. She wore the black combat suit she wore during her days of service in the SIS, the underworld style clashing with her elegant Jedi surroundings. But Kai was standing up taller, less slightly hunched over, and she looked Yuon in the eyes more often than not.

In the words of the great Jaqs’bawnd, the clothes made the agent and, at her core, Kaiadri Sokol was an agent. Whether that be an agent of SIS or an agent of this Jedi Master, Kaiadri was only comfortable as an agent.

It was something that made Yuon smile, at any rate, seeing this other side of her new Padawan.

“I've identified the holoprojector that was stolen. It contained a holocron of...Master Rajivari. Rajivari was another of the students of the Lost Jedi. He was a student of Master Atton Rand. He...he turned to the dark side. He betrayed the very order that saved him originally from death.”

“Goes to show that the dark side isn’t very good with gratitude.”

“Indeed...the details of his life are maddeningly sparse. Rajivari was immensely powerful. That stolen holocron could hold his darkest secrets.”

“So we’re talking a high priority target, last piece of our missing set.”

“Precisely.”

“Gimme a suspect and a location and I’ll bring it back in one piece, Master.”

* * *

 

Kaiadri leaned against the tree, watching three quarters of the village preparing for another Flesh Raider attack and the last quarter prepare for a big celebration. Seemed religious, from what bits she could catch from far away. She noted a gap in their defenses: their crop garden. She slid down the hill into the area after sneaking about and climbing up the hill, making her way to the center of the village’s preparations.

She snuck up on an obviously armed guard and reached over, tapping her shoulder opposite from where she was standing. The guard looked that way and she passed by, refraining from whistling a happy tune until she got to Kaiadri walked up to the village center, but let herself be captured when the village guard noticed her and got others to tackle her to the ground.

“Sooooo...can any of you can get me to talk with Bashenn?” Kaiadri asked, smiling crookedly as there was a vibrosword pushed against her throat. “Captain of the guard? Also, should put a guard at the edge of your crop garden, it’s a lot like a door right now.”

As they lead her into one of the buildings, Kaiadri could have sworn she heard a chuckle in the back of her head...that she'd never heard before and yet she felt like she knew it her _whole_ life.

* * *

 

Three hundred and some odd years ago, on Tython, the same laugh could be heard as the Temple was being rebuilt from within a cocoon of six people. They sat around their campfire, some sitting as a proper Jedi should have and some sprawling out on the grass.

“C’mon, you used to take me seriously when I said I have bad feelings about things!”

“I am taking you seriously, Atton.” The laugh’s owner, a lanky woman with eyes far too blue for her own good, laid her head in his lap. “Everything will be fine. I highly doubt the idea that there’s a Twi’lek village on this planet. They aren’t going to attack us if they’re not actually here.”


	4. Mirrors

“Dealer plays a two, player gets an eight...hit. Modify with deck as needed.”

Kaiadri sat, muttering pazaak strategies to herself. She was being good and staying in the village’s jail cells during their celebration, even though it would have been child’s play to escape. One guard? Rusted bars? The security wasn’t high class, it was laughable. But she’d humor them, make them feel safe. She needed their security chief in a good mood at any rate.

She rested her head on her arm, hearing cheering and a muddled mix of Huttese and Basic outside and felt a smile crawl on her face. They sounded happy. Shame the Jedi didn’t move in to help them immediately after the first attack, especially with eager Padawans running about and going through their cultural trials. She’d heard about the one with the torches and the path up to one of their ex-Matriarchs, that was a Jedi magnet.

Kaiadri tossed her free hand into the air, keeping her eyes down by her feet as she looked at her pazaak deck spread on the floor, muttering, “Dealer pulls a three, player gets another eight...hit. Mod if needed...dealer pulls a four...player gets a ten...” She looked up and gave a crooked grin as a Twi’lek matching Yuon’s description of Bashenn -- blue skin, stripped lekku with stripes heading down -- walked in with another Twi’lek. “ _Double_ your bet.”

“What is your name and purpose in our village?” The other Twi’lek asked, a frown gracing his green face and sharpening his brown eyes.

Kaiadri put her hands behind her head and the two tensed. She slowly put her hands in front of her, holding them out flat to show there weren’t any tricks in her hands. “I’m Kaiadri Sokol, ex-SIS operative and Padawan of Jedi Master Yuon Par. If one of you is Bashenn, I’ve got questions to ask on behalf of Master Yuon. If either of you are not Bashenn, go back and get Bashenn.”

“Well, I guess if Master Yuon’s asking, I can be of assistance. I’m Bashenn, ask Master Yuon’s questions.”

She took a deep breath, exhaling slowly. “How is the village faring with the attacks?” She asked. “I heard Padawan Jazlyn was helping, but I know she can be a little...bullheaded.”

The other Twi’lek snorted. “First, the Jedi don’t want to help us. Now they want to-”

“Hey.” Kaiadri tossed up a hand, stopping him right there. “I’ve been on Tython for maybe a day and three hours, thirty-five minutes, and some seconds, but then I haven’t looked at my clock recently because I’ve been behaving by humoring this prison cell.” Kai leapt up, pointing at weak points in the bars. “Force sensitive or not, the bars are loose enough in here for me to wiggle out. You guys don't host prisoners often. Only one guard? I mean, good on you for assigning a guard who was impervious to my chatting, I spent a few good hours trying to convince him I was an intergalactic vacuum salesman and he definitely didn’t take me on my deal of free service. So he gets good points. Yet your farmland and gardens are doors for flesh raiders and invaders to get in. If you don’t believe me, then Jazlyn will definitely point it out to you since she’s a krelling perfectionista -- the farmland is screaming quietly to every sabotage instinct in me trained by the Republic.”

Her voice went quietly and higher pitch, the two Twi’lek villagers wide-eyed at her performance. “Poison me! _Poison me_ , I’ll make the perfect distraction for something **bad**!”

She threw her hands in the air, giving a long sigh before running her hands through her hair and fluffing it up. Kaiadri spoke in her regular voice, “I’m a good person -- when I see opportunities like that, that I know from my training, I tell people. So that they’re safe and they can protect themselves so they don’t have to rely on the Jedi, who are great and wonderful people restrained by the laws of the Republic. So please, don’t loop in the Jedi for not helping sooner, but blame the senators who are so far removed from the people they represent that they can’t see the pain their bickering causes. Also, don’t loop _me_ in with the Jedi too much, I literally just got here. I’m also a Padawan, which means I can’t do _anything_ when it comes to decision making.”

“Never thought I’d see a Jedi angry,” Bashenn snickered.

“Frustrated. You don’t want to see me touch angry. A friend of mine is still picking out my revenge from his quarters,” Kai laughed. “Nah, I’m frustrated.”

“Bashenn, let her talk,” Vanel sighed. “Our village is holding well, but it will hold better after the help of Master Orgus and Padawan Jazlyn. The Padawan is-”

“Lemme guess -- cleanly ruthless? Strict morals, blunt words during the rare moments she talks? Offer her money for dirty work and she’ll punch your teeth clean out?”

“Yes, that is how I heard Ranna describe her.”

“That’s Jazzy for ya. I must be a little shock, if Jazlyn’s what you’ve had to know as a sample specimen of a Jedi Padawan up close and personal. Next question, have you seen anyone with a Jedi doo-dad? Kinda cube-y, about this big-” she held her hands out to show the estimated size of the holocron. “-we think it might be silvery and red in color, it hadn't been through an inventory check for a long while-”

“Nalenn had something like that,” Vanel replied. “Came back with it after a hunting trip not too long ago.”

Kaiadri let herself have a grin.The trail was getting warmer. “Nalenn? Anything I should know?”

“He’s our champion. He’s the best fighter we have against the Flesh Raiders, pretty much our only hope before you Jedi got attacked and had to help us to help yourselves,” Bashenn replied. Kai bit back a retort, letting the man have his justifiable bitterness. “He’s a great warrior-”

“Battles just sort of _fall_ in his favor?” Kaiadri asked suddenly, curious. “His shots are impossible and they just sort of land? His blade always is in the right spot? He can figure out there’s danger coming before it becomes obvious to everyone else?”

Bashenn sounded proud. “You have heard of him!”

* * *

Britade smiled, her lekku resting along her arms with the tips curled around her wrists. The Twi’lek woman was a sight of peace and stability Kaiadri had gotten used to. She had an aura that just sort of coaxed the truth out of the Nar Shaddaa weasel coiling terrified in Kaiadri’s heart. She let Kaiadri sit down on the pillow in front of her, using her Force abilities to stir her own cup of tea. Britade’s way to make Kai feel better about the Force, the Jedi Master had explained. It still made Kaiadri shiver and shudder whenever she saw something appear to move on its own.

Kaiadri felt herself relax in the few moments of silence before Britade spoke.

“Kaiadri, I’d like to talk to you about what happened on Taris.”

Kai threw up a smile that felt like vomit on her lips, an uneasy grin meant to distract. “Been lookin’ through my old file, have we?”

“I wished to see what caused such a wound in your being, the unease you had around me and the Jedi Knights stationed here when you first came. The report on the incident was lacking in details and I wished to hear it from you rather than assume based on what I have seen of you.” Britade tilted her head, lamp light catching the color in her green eyes. “I want to help heal the wound, like your gash from sparring with Jazlyn.”

A sigh escaped her lips as Kaiadri ran a hand through her hair. “Not to sound overly dramatic or patronizing, but emotional wounds aren't exactly the same as physical.”

“I am aware, Kaiadri. Talking about the incident could help.”

“I’ve talked about it. You’ve seen my file, I know it has the stats of the people I work well with. After the Taris incident-”

Britade raised a hand, letting her lekku fall to her back. “There was a notable increase of your ability to work with Theron Shan, from a noted 56% compatibility rate and mission success rate when paired to 76%. Yes, I noted this. Your superiors noted it heavily and there are marks for the two of you to be paired in high risk, emergency situations. Or when things had to be done, fast.”

“That’s us! Seeing one of us on missions would be alright. Seeing both made people...well, we’re responsible for _so_ many laundry bills,” Kaiadri chuckled. “But yes. I talked about it with him. He trained with Jedi as a kid, was raised by you people. Being here, I can see why he was such an insufferable jerkass during Academy years.” Her eyes widened and she sputtered, “S-sorry. That just kinda...came out.”

Britade chuckled. “I can see why you can come to that conclusion. I remember Theron when he was here under Master Zho. He was an...interesting learner. Much like yourself, in some respects. Can I safely guess that Theron taught you some of the Jedi philosophies that you’ve shown yourself familiar with?”

“Yeah. Hey, remind me. What’s my file say about what happened to me on Taris?”

Britade cast her eyes down on the datapad in her lap. “The file had been recently edited when I read it. On Taris, you showed incredible battle prowess. You were the leader of your squad of four SIS operatives placed under the command of Padawan Ki Sazen, to help her cult with the problems they had been having with Imperial forces and the wildlife as well as attempt to succeed where her master failed in convincing her to let go of her cult’s life debt. Ki Sazen fell to the Dark Side and killed your operatives from under you, but kept you alive.” Britade looked up. “Details are sparse.”

“She kept me alive because things were going too good. I was landing near impossible shots instinctively, sniping with a damn pistol that should’ve been jammed to hell and back in swamp gook. I could sense when attacks were going to happen at the same time, if not sooner than, Ki herself. She kept me alive because she knew I was Force sensitive. Told me so herself in her little speech she gave me the day she turned her back on the Republic, tried to recruit me to be her apprentice. I kept saying no, she kept beating me-”

“We don't have to continue if-”

Kaiadri let out a bitter laugh, part tears and part amusement. “Master, we’ve already gotten so _far_ , why stop now?”

* * *

“No, I haven’t heard of him,” Kaiadri replied with an easy grin, lips curling up with charm coiling in the corners of her smile. “Just guessing. We can call it me practicing my Jedi intuition.”

“Riiiight.” Vanel crossed his arms, looking at Kaiadri with narrow eyes.

“In any case, is Nalenn in the village? The artifact he has-”

Bashenn bristled, snapping, “Hey, he’s earned his rest and privacy! I’m not gonna lead a Jedi to him-”

“Bashenn, back off. I’ve seen what those Jedi boxes can do to people. She’s right, that thing could be hurting him.” Vanel turned from Bashenn to Kaiadri. “He’s been acting strange lately anyway. Could it be that Jedi artifact?”

“Very likely, yeah,” Kaiadri answered, putting her hands behind her head a moment before remembering they didn’t like having her hands out of sight so she crossed her arms over her chest. “It’s got some dark stuff on it, not even I’m supposed to look into it without supervision from a Master. I’m told it could increase paranoia, aggression, and might induce power trips. Like.” She cleared her throat, using a deeper tone, “I am going to lift this mountain and use it to crush my enemies! Zap, I have lightning! I am become Death!”

Bashenn hummed at that answer, thinking on it for a moment. “He’s got a camp up in the mountains,” he muttered, Kaiadri moving closer to the bars to hear him. “Flesh raider territory, there’s a path leading up that way out of the village. It’s a hidden nook, s’got some Aurebresh carved into the side of the opening.”

“Great!” Kaiadri clapped her hands together. “Can I get out of this cell now?”

* * *

 

“Don’t Enter, Wild Trandoshan Orgy Inside,” Kaiadri muttered to herself, tracing the Aurebresh letters on the side of the cave entrance. She snorted. “I like this kid’s style. That’d make most people run for the hills, most people wouldn’t risk that.” She ran her fingers through her hair, smirking up at the top of the cave’s entrance. “I’m not most people.”

She took out the quarterstaff, extending it and keeping it by her side as a walking stick as she entered the cave. It was empty, quiet. There were bones littered on the side, some sharpened sticks standing out of the ground at an angle. Flesh Raiders used the cave before Nalenn. One entrance and it was the only exit. There were old lamps, looked to be rigged up to the old batteries lying around. She couldn’t tell if they were the work of Nalenn or the Flesh Raiders, having seen enough evidence that it honestly could’ve been either. She walked down the ramp, looking slowly left. More and more bones, mostly animal by the brief glance. “Wonder how many museums would like a sample of some of this?” She muttered, picking up a bone briefly. “Nah. Too chipped. Not preserved.” She put it back, slowly heading up the ramp to the camp proper. A tent was set up, old Republic quality it looked like, along with a few crates of supplies and the like.

“A hermit’s paradise,” Kaiadri replied. She looked left of the tent entrance and smirked upon seeing the holocron set up upon one of the crates. “Bingo. There you are, Raji-bratty. Hold up.”

She poked inside the tent, seeing three crates stacked in the corner past a desk. How did he move all this furniture out here? Had it already been here? She dug around, finding a datapad. She smirked, finding the security. “Easy,” she muttered, retracting her quarterstaff. Taking out her slicing kit, Kaiadri began a light amount of snooping.

First couple entries were normal. Complaints about Jedi not helping the village, questions as to why they couldn’t, general frustrations about fellow villagers. Pretty normal journal for a young man, all things considered. Even some recollections of some emotionally charged scenes with a Ranna Tao’Ven, who Kaiadri remembered hearing about while in her cell. The Matriarch’s daughter and current poor soul trying to befriend Jazlyn, if the whispers and mutters Kaiadri heard were true. She passed over these entries, raising her eyebrows at later entries.

Things got dark. His words were angrier, young hot anger growing into cold anger. Cold anger was all well and good, s’what won arguments because it could be tempered with logic and reasoning, but with this amount of hatred...Nalenn didn’t consider the Jedi people. He called them a force of nature, like the wind -- so far removed from-

She froze, rereading the words on the datapad. His words were a mirror of her words, the ones she told the villagers about the senators came back to her, reading Nalenn’s words was almost a word-for-word quotation of it.

“I can’t help, but blame the Jedi for our troubles. The Jedi, who are so far removed from the people they protect that they can’t see the pain their bickering causes. Rajivari is right, they need to be burnt down to the ground,” Kaiadri read out from the journal, muttering with wide eyes. She gave a deep sigh, slumping in the chair by Nalenn’s desk. “Kriffing stars, kid. I can get feeling frustrated, but murder is a step too far.” She ran a hand through her hair, locking the datapad back up and stashing it where she found it. She got back up, picking up the holocron with a soft grunt. She placed it in her pack, carrying it out.

Getting closer to the entrance, she heard a shout and a rock clacking against something, possibly one of the rock walls. She quickly hid behind a thicker wooden spike, holding the holocron in her arms so it wouldn’t rock against the wall.

“Jedi!” His voice was deep, echoing off the walls like a bullet. “I know you’re here!”

“Oh!” She stepped out of her hiding place. “I’m _sorry_ , Mr. Raloch! But that’s _not_ my name!” She tossed her pack over her shoulder, letting the holocron thump against her back. She strutted up to him, offering a hand to the stony Twi’lek. “Name’s Sokol. Kaiadri Sokol. I’m not _just_ a Jedi.”

He pushed her hand away, glaring at her. “Makes you part of the problem.”

“Yeah, I can see that.” She let her grin widen as his glare stopped and died to a surprised blink at her. “What? You think I haven’t been boiling with disgust the whole time I was locked away in some temple on Naboo, eating three square meals a day while I thought about the people who were starving out there? That I haven’t been like, curious as to why I get pampered when so many are homeless, terrified, oppressed?”

When presented with a situation that was, on a scale of one to ten, a four, Kaiadri decided to push the situation to a ten and gamble. Open herself up and double her bet.

“I agree with you. The way the Jedi, the Republic, are right now? Definitely part of the problem. The poodoo is at least five different ways of _kriffing_ **bad**.”

She held out her hand again, keeping her eyes (a voice whispers at the back of her mind, male and heavily amused, “too blue for your own good, General”) focused on Nalenn. “I'm not just a Jedi, Nalenn. I play pazaak to clear my head, in my off hours. I've got my deck on me and I'm willing to cut it in half. We can shoot the poodoo and have Senate rules, I'm not going to take your money. S’just us two like-minded people complaining about Jedi speeches, senator poodoo, and air out some frustrations.”

Nalenn looked from her eyes to her hand, brown swirling in confusion and anger. Furrowed brows eased back and he slowly took her hand. “Okay,” he sighed. “Couple rounds. Then we swap to sabacc. I've got a deck.”

“Cool.” She shook his hand, her grin not falling. “C’mon. You’ve got a festival to get back to. Maybe a someone to impress by beating a Jedi Padawan at sabacc.”

He flushed a pretty purple, looking away with a frown. “I don’t need someone in specific to impress, Sokol.”

Kaiadri laughed. “Sure you don’t, Raloch. Sure you don’t.” The two walked away from the cave, away from the dark, towards the light of the sunset and towards the warmth of the village.

* * *

Kaiadri didn’t hear the name Nalenn Raloch for another five days. They’d played, laughed, spat, and overall, Kaiadri thought they’d been friends by the end of the encounter. Talking with Nalenn was familiar, but in a way she couldn’t put her finger on. He was too spontaneous to be like Theron, too serious to be like Jonas, and those were her two close friends she’d made in her days of being SIS. So the familiarity was weird, but something Kaiadri brushed off in the hustle and bustle of training.

She'd told Yuon about the whispers on the third night. Yuon had hummed, thought out what Kaiadri had described.

“The past is knocking,” Yuon helpfully replied. “You mentioned having a connection with one of the holocrons from the Path of Foundation.”

“Uh, yeah. Ters Sendor, the history guy.” Kaiadri shrugged. “He made some comments like he knew stuff about me. Which is, y'know, _weird_ since I’m not a part of the history he would’ve studied.”

“Kaiadri, when Jedi make holocrons, they are assisted to flow past the bounds of time for a short while,” Yuon replied. “In all likelihood, you are one of the people he was prepared for upon making the holocron.”

“What, you’re saying he’s been expecting me?” Kaiadri asked, raising her eyebrows at her master. “For like. Three hundred years, he’s been sittin’ with his holo-butt toastin' on a nice holo-beach and waiting for me to wake his butt up?”

Yuon smiled, quietly chuckling. “Go find out, my padawan.”

“Fine, I guess I’ll leave this cryptic Jedi session and go have another one.” Kaiadri rolled her eyes, getting up from her sitting position. Yuon continued chuckling at her as Kaiadri left.

It was turning to night so most of the people around the temple were asleep so they could wake with the rising sun and feel in tune with the Force. Kaiadri navigated the temple’s main area, letting the gentle glow of the huge holocron in the middle of the room light her way. She made her way upstairs, keeping her footsteps silent as she navigated the library of holocrons. She found Sendor’s green and gold holocron, gently picking up the cube and heading back down to her room. She passed Yuon, who was readying herself for bed, and waved. Yuon didn’t even notice her, but that was getting pretty usual. Yuon would space out sometimes and Kaiadri or Qyzen (if he was around) would just gently nudge her in the right direction.

Kaiadri put the holocron down on her nightstand, moving her datapad from under it. She tapped a few options on her datapad and began to record audio. Just so she wouldn’t need to pull out the holocron again. She tapped the holocron, activating it.

Ters Sendor’s weather face looked back at her as he flickered to life in front of her. “Ah, Padawan Sokol, I was expecting you.”

“So I’ve been told!” She rolled her eyes as she whispered, trying not to be too loud. “Everyone’s being cryptic and cheeky and overtly mystical with me. I’d like some stuff said to me straight and without the smoke and mirrors.”

“A child after her ancestor’s heart,” Sendor replied, chuckling softly.

“Buddy-” she stopped herself, giving a deep sigh. “ _Master_ , I was an orphan. I don’t know my parents, much less my family tree. I’m just here to ask about the whispers in my head. Master Yuon acts like that’s not a normal Jedi thing.”

“Mmmm. No, most Jedi do not hear voices in their heads,” he replied. “Tell me of these voices. What they say, how they say these things.”

“Um...well, there was the other day,” Kaiadri replied. “Yuon and I were sparring, trying to get a handle on my ability for combat. And I hear a voice, male, maybe my age, growling angrily. The voice went in and out, like a transmission.” She cleared her throat, trying her best for an impression. “Jedi...when they save you, it’s only so you can suffer _more_.”

“Ah ha. Interesting. Tell me of other instances.”

“Sometimes it’s about my eyes...a voice, deeper than the first, sounds amused. Chuckles at me while I’m looking at someone or at myself in the mirror, this one’s happened three times.” She chuckled, trying to imitate the slow and easy chuckle that felt so familiar to her, yet so foreign to her memory. “You have eyes _too_ blue and _too_ good, General.” Kaiadri shoved her fingers through her hair, sighing deeply. “I’m not a general. I’ve _never_ been a kriffing general, I don’t understand-”

“Don’t overthink, Padawan,” Master Sendor said, putting a hand up. “Are there anymore? I have a theory, but I’d like to hear more if there are more of these instances.”

“I guess...alright, you can’t like. Scold me or make fun of me for this, alright?”

“I would never, Kaiadri. You can trust me.”

Kaiadri sighed. “I’m going to sound like a little kid, kriffing stars...I was lying in bed, messaging an old partner. We were both tired, he antsy from feeling cooped up and me antsy from this whole...I find it weird, being here on Tython. I feel like I don’t belong here.”

“You are not the first Jedi to feel thus, Kaiadri. Master Atton felt very much the same way.”

“Yeah, reassuring a Jedi Master long dead had something in common with me,” she replied. “I’ll take his ashes out for a cup of caf and we can chitchat about all this.”

“Please do not let me distract from your story. Continue.”

Kaiadri looked away from the holo-image of the Jedi Master, looking down at her gloved hands. She gave a very long sigh, taking off her gloves. Sendor paid a lot of attention to this movement, eyebrows raising at some detail Kaiadri was too distracted to comb out of his body language.

“I’m chatting with him, chuckling at some joke he’s made. S’not the kind of joke you’d tell a Jedi Master.” Her ears flushed and she cleared her throat. “While I’m chuckling, I hear someone join my like...chuckling, I guess. It’s not like the other voices, it’s female. Hearing the chuckle made my chest sort of _swell_ , not like...physically but like...an emotional swelling? Like I felt at peace and the next day, the boulder I was having trouble lifting was easy to lift and the stance I had been trying to-”

“Show me. Show me the stance.”

“Oooookay.” Kaiadri got up from bed, grabbing her vibrosword. She started to try to fall into the correct form when Sendor spoke up.

“No. Use your staff.”

“Okay, be specific with what you want-”

“Padawan, this is important. Please.”

Kaiadri pulled her quarterstaff to her with the Force, putting the practice vibrosword aside. She adjusted herself, not used to doing lightsaber stances with her quarterstaff.

“See, it was Shii-Cho, Master Yuon says-”

“It is a defensive form,” Master Sendor replied. “It is also called the Determination form, in honor of Grandmaster Tatiana Ardonel, the Grandmaster who repaired the Jedi after the long silence of the Mandalorian Wars.”

“Uh...yeah?”

“And you fall naturally into the stance and look like Grandmaster Tatiana Ardonel. Like a perfect mirror.”

There was a long, pregnant pause. Kaiadri stayed in the stance, eyes widened in shock as her face was lit by the light of her lamp and Master Sendor’s holocron. She stood there, pondering the warm painted walls of her room. She stood there, not moving a muscle of her body out of fear. She stood there, slowly inhaling and exhaling the stiff and stifled air of the room. She stood there, silence ringing in her ears.

Then she laughed.

“You have got to be _kidding_ me."


	5. Swearing

 

Kaiadri Sokol's time as a Jedi was not done yet, not even if she so dearly wanted it to be after that conversation with Ters Sendor's holocron.

"He's crazy," she spat to Master Yuon the next morning. "Absolutely and entirely crazy."

"Why do you say that, Kaiadri?" Yuon asked, taking a sip of her tea.

"He thinks that because I'm hearing voices and because my staff stance looks like Grandmaster Tatiana's, that I'm some mystical prodigy child, newfound heir to a legacy," Kaiadri growled. She snorted. "There's no way to _prove_ that I'm the heir of both Tatiana and Battlemaster Atton Rand's legacies, despite whatever historical scandal there was between them. It could be _anyone_ from what it sounds like. It doesn't **have** to be me."

Yuon put down her cup of tea, folding her hands in front of her. "Why is it not you?"

"Because I didn't know my parents! I'm not like Theron, with this huge family tree hanging over my head." Kaiadri downed a gulp of her caf in one practiced chug. "No, I'm the orphan from Nar Shaddaa. My mother figure? A retired Republic medic running a free clinic down in the depths of the Red Light District. My father figure? Ranges from a paradoxically kind Hutt to the Director of SIS." Kaiadri snorted again, flicking the side of her mug with a flare. "I don't _have_ a biological family, Yuon. That's not my story and it's something I've made peace with."

"You do not like this change to being a Jedi. It was easier to deal with when you had no one to blame but the Force," Yuon replied, eyes moving from Kaiadri's hands to her face. "Now, you have someone to blame."

"I mean! Not really?" Kaiadri put down the mug of caf, respecting it too much to drag it into her ridiculous hand gestures. She threw her hands up, shrugging. "Theron's biologically related to Grandmaster Satele with a direct biological connection. No Force powers whatsoever. Me blaming some centuries dead Jedi for my connection to the Force, **if** I'm even related to them on some biological front at all, would be misguided at best and stupid at worst. No, I guess I'm just pissy about the possibility because I've accepted that I don't get the oh so mighty biological connections with people. And that's fine!"

"Are you fine with it?"

"Yes! Honestly, I'm absolutely fine with it." Kaiadri ran a hand through her hair. "I've never felt the inclination to find my biological parents and neither did my sister, before my sister got scooped up by pirates. We both cut off from each other and found families elsewhere. I had my family in SIS and she did whatever Kaiade does."

"I did not know you had a sister."

Kaiadri shrugged. "Best kept secret of Kaiadri Sokol Inc. I trust you, so it's honestly whatever at this point. Roll in the selected pile of secrets I let loose like a happy pig for all I care. You're the one who is purposefully placing yourself in the position as a vent for thoughts."

"Am I so transparent?" Yuon chuckled with a smile.

Kaiadri snorted. "No, I'm just that good with body language. You're mimicking my sitting position the best you can in that robe, which kudos to you for managing to making my pretzel posture look somewhat decent. You've kept your eyes firmly on some part of me, a reminder that you're interested in what I'm saying and actively listening for someone with your social personality typing. And the whole time you've been giving prompting questions and statements to get me to continue thought trains with gentle prodding. The first two take some teaching to learn the signs of and the last one is obvious to anyone who's been as social as I've been in my life."

"It always fascinates me how your SIS training affects your thinking," Yuon replied. "So. You've lived almost your whole life disdaining biological relationships, yes?"

"I don't put biological relationships on a pedestal," Kaiadri replied, "that's how you get yourself hurt when someone doesn't live up to expectations. No, people don't belong on pedestals at all. For me, with relationships, I put in as much effort as the other person is willing to do. It keeps it easy, simple, and nobody's hurt most of the time."

"Most of the time?"

"There's some introverts I know who have a hard time going about the equivalent exchange thing without me explaining it to them, but we find middle ground eventually." Kaiadri shrugged. "Or not at all. Sometimes, things just don't go as planned and that's fine."

"But becoming a Jedi was never on your agenda," Yuon replied. "From what it sounds, you were very content at being an invisible SIS agent for the rest of your life, with none of your achievements being linked back to you until you were dead. From what Master Britade told me, it has taken you a while for this new chapter of your life to become fine with you."

"Eh. I wasn't invisible. I had Jonas, Theron, Jaxo, the Director, Brishkah, and that was fine with me. I don't need a lot of attention, honestly. I'm a simple woman with simple needs: have a job, get the job done, banter with enemies and friends alike, and watch Jaqs'bawnd. Keeping balance and working with Force mojo? That wasn't in the plan, but I'm nothing if not adaptable...it's just hard adapting. I try to banter with the other Padawans and half of them think I'm disrespectful and the other half put me on a pedestal because they're teenagers and don't know better. Talking with my old friends from SIS can be worked around and I've already worked around it a bit." Kaiadri shrugged. "I'm doing my best and that's all that can really be asked of me."

"Indeed." Yuon smiled wider, sipping her tea. "I can see why Master Britade sung such high praises for you. You are wise, but not in a conventional manner that would work with other Jedi Masters."

"Can I get you telling me I'm wise in writing?" Kaiadri asked, grinning. "Theron would never believe me if I said it."

"One better: I will make a holo of it and give it to you when you become a Jedi Master."

Kaiadri went silent, gaze dropping from Yuon to her mug like she thought she saw a fly in it. Yuon tilted her head, watching as Kaiadri went from cheekily delighted to reserved in a blink of an eye. Kaiadri was silent and Yuon respected that silence, moving her gaze from her Padawan and closing her eyes. Yuon waited, as she always did with her Padawans. She may never had had someone with Kaiadri's bundle of circumstances, but that didn't mean she could adapt if the Force willed it.

Kaiadri grumbled, softly pushing her mug of half finished caf from her, "If I ever get there."

Yuon opened her eyes, smiling. "I know you will." Yuon gently nudged Kaiadri's mug towards her. "Biological relations to Grandmaster Tatiana and Battlemaster Atton or not, I have seen the makings of greatness within you with the short time we've known each other. You need to believe in yourself like others believe in you." Yuon chuckled. "Besides. You now have incentive: humble bragging rights over your friend Theron."

The reminder of Theron seemed to brighten Kaiadri immediately. Kaiadri snickered, plucking up her mug again. "You sure know how to motivate, Master Yuon."

* * *

An hour later, into the morning exercise match with Padawan Jazlyn and all the quick-thinking and banter that included, Kaiadri got a call.

"Blind huntress, step off of data hunter," Brishkah replied.

Jazlyn looked up from her position. Kaiadri was sprawled headfirst into the floor, neck between two practice sabers, with Jazlyn having one foot firmly in the middle of her shoulder blades and the other foot close to Kaiadri's left hand.

Kaiadri groaned as Jazlyn barked, "Make me, lizard."

"Now you've done it," Kaiadri mumbled, hearing Brishkah take his pistol in one hand and vibrosword in the other. "You _had_ to goad him."

"Is blind huntress speaking to Brishkah?"

"No, I'm referring to the other lizard in the room. _Yes, I am referring to you._ " Jazlyn left her practice sabers stabbed into the floor, rolling her shoulders back and removing her vibroswords from her back.

"You called him a lizard," Kaiadri muttered.

"Are you talking _to me_?"

"Who else would I be referring to?" Jazlyn asked, voice deep and cold with indifference.

"You shouldn't have done that," Kaiadri mumbled, smiling. "You _really_ shouldn't have done that."

"That is not what I am referred to," Brishkah replied. "I am referred to as **Mr. Lizard**."

Brishkah charged, experience as a mercenary showing as he flicked one of Jazlyn's vibroswords aside and pointed a blaster at her forehead. "You will let Kaiadri Sokol up from the position you have forced her into and you _will_ apologize to her for letting yourself get carried away during a friendly sparring session, blind huntress. Prove yourself to your betters otherwise."

Kaiadri knew Jazlyn well enough to tell when she was glaring. Or at least, giving the impression of glaring behind the cards over her eyes. This was one of those times a slight clenching in the jaw and her eyebrows dropping by a fraction into the slightest of frowns.

Kaiadri sighed in relief as Jazlyn removed her practice sabers with a flick of the Force, slowly standing up. Brishkah holstered his gun, but kept his vibrosword in his hand. Jazlyn walked to Kaiadri, still glaring.

"I am sorry for going overboard, Padawan Kaiadri. I only wished to give you a taste of a battle ready opponent," Jazlyn growled.

"I appreciate the sentiment," Kaiadri replied, making sure her voice was level and the same as always, "but maybe a little less brutality and screaming in Mando'a next time?"

Jazlyn tilted her head down, visibly considering this. "That can be arranged, I suppose," she slowly drawled, waving Kaiadri off with a deliberate roll of her hand.

"Great." Kaiadri gave Jazlyn a one-armed air hug. Jazlyn snorted, walking away. Jazlyn locked eyes with Brishkah for a short, tense moment (or giving the impression that Jazlyn was locking eyes Kaiadri hadn't been around enough Miraluka to know the proper term for it). Brishkah snorted down at her, rumbling in Mando'a. Jazlyn clenched her jaw, reaching up to hit Brishkah in the square of his chest with the side of her fist before prowling out of the room.

"Glad we could talk," Kaiadri chirped after Jazlyn. She looked to Brishkah, patting him on his bicep. "Thanks for the save, Brishkah. What's up?"

"I cannot check on data hunter whenever I feel a disturbance in the Force?" Brishkah teased, sheathing his vibrosword to his belt.

"Oh haha, very funny, Mr. Lizard," Kaiadri snickered, punching his arm. "What's up, for real."

"Master Yuon wishes to see you, data hunter." Brishkah shifted his weight from one side to the other, moving his gaze. "Did not look good."

"Gotcha, Brish," Kaiadri replied, flicking her hand up in a salute. She walked with Brishkah. Kaiadri noted that he was walking behind her he thought Jazlyn would come back with a sneak attack. She snorted softly, but let Brishkah hover protectively.

She could hear Yuon and Qyzen talking from down the hall.

"I thought little hunter took care of this."

"As much as she could have, Qyzen, she is not fully trained and does not know how to deal with those touched by the Dark Side."

"Does not know to kill."

"She does not know how to kill the Dark Side influence within a person, yes. As Jedi, we consider healing the sick first over killing them."

Qyzen and Yuon were by a table, Qyzen standing stoic and tall with Yuon sitting in a chair and leaning against the table. She was looking at a holocom, but a shoddily made one at that put together of scavenged parts, Kaiadri didn't think that holocom could _receive_ any messages. Just play recorded messages.

"As _people_ helping other people, we should consider healing first," Kaiadri replied, stepping through the door. "What's up, Master? Brish said it didn't look good."

"See for yourself, Kaiadri," Yuon replied, motioning to the holocom.

Kaiadri walked over to the table, hearing Brishkah follow her in. She plucked up the holocom gently, making sure she didn't accidentally break it, before sliding her fingers around the base to find the play button.

She blinked, seeing Nalen appear in the holo's light. His teeth were bared, anger clearly written on his face.

"You will not trick me, Jedi," he snarled, "I will not be placated by words that only mean indifference. I will not let my village be bullied by your excuse of a defender! Jedi Padawan Kaiadri Sokol, you will not trick me with your illusory friendship!" Nalen pounded his fist against something the recorder didn't pick up, most likely a table (probably the table in his tent in his cave hideaway). "I will find the Font of Rajivari. I will find what I need to keep my people safe from your _lies_ , your _arrogance_ , and your _indifference_. If I see you again, Kaiadri Sokol, you will die." The holo flickered out, a small train of smoke rising from it. Kaiadri put it down on the table, her features slowly cascading down into a frown her eyebrows knitting into a worried look, her nose scrunching up a bit, and her lips pressing into a thin line.

"I have to go find him," Kaiadri replied, pushing herself away from the table. "You said Rajivari's knowledge would be _terrible_ for him! For any that aren't trained to resist the pull of the Dark Side! Why keep Rajivari's holocron out at all if it turns protective, goodnatured people like Nalen Raloch into anger bearing monsters?"

"Because then there would be those that feel the temptation of the forbidden and seek it out," Yuon replied. "They would wonder why we only mention three of the four Disciples of the Second Jedi Order. They would search out these truths and we would be here anyway. It is better if we keep the toxic influences under our watch where we can see-"

"No. No that's not how _that works_ ," Kaiadri replied. "That's not how _sensitive data keeping works._ Stars, no wonder things have developed to this point. I will fight until the end of my days to keep that kriffing holocron of Rajivari on lockdown with only trained people able to access it. But that's future me's problem." Kaiadri stood up straight, staring out a window. "Present me's problem is hunting down Nalen and making sure he doesn't get his arse _killed_ because he had too good of intentions!"

"If that is what you feel like is necessary-"

"Yes, Master Yuon," Kaiadri replied, staring back at Yuon. "I feel like that's necessary before I go hunt down this Font of knowledge and making sure it never endangers the lives of anyone ever again. Because _obviously_ the Jedi as an organization can't keep this shit straight from anyone who will be hurt by it." Kaiadri threw her hands into the air, grumbling as she left.

Yuon looked at Qyzen, worry stitched into her features.

* * *

"Update on situation for Operation: _Still Words_ Jedi as individuals: fine, dandy," Kaiadri mumbled as she trekked through the wilderness, following Brishkah as he followed Nalenn's track. "Jedi as an organization? The biggest group of dumbarses I've ever seen. A literal _arsenal_ of the dumbest arses I've ever seen!"

"Can agree," Brishkah chuckled quietly. "Treat Huntmaster Qyzen like beast. Very stupid."

"Exactly!" Kaiadri, for the tenth time that trip, threw her hands into the air. "Mmmmmmmmm true justice can't be driven by emotion, but we're going to be scared of things we don't understand and let that blind us...until we leave sensitive data out amongst young students who don't know any better, because we're too scared of being hypocrites to lock _that_ up. We'd rather thin out the flock of our students by putting shit out there that can corrupt them, **literally** , than be called censoring arseholes."

"Have point," Brishkah replied, leaning his vibrosword against a tree and examining the dirt. "Keep information from the young, censoring, clear use of propaganda to make younglings think there is no corruption in Jedi."

"There is a clear difference between having an unbiased history available to all and leaving an artifact out that you _know_ has full capability of taking someone's Force mojo and sending it straight to Shit Land," Kaiadri replied. "It's...hard to describe but these Dark Side shitstains of holocrons can take someone's them-ness and flip it into...well, y'know, the dark."

"So data hunter thinks this is what happened to Nalen?"

"I know so," she answered. "I straight up read his journal. I had a feeling I'd need to know more about who I was retrieving Rajivari's holocron from and that asking questions in the village wasn't going to get me anything actual useable. So I did SIS protocol: I popped his privacy bubble and investigated. I don't think he's a bad guy. I think he's just angry and doesn't know what to do with that and _apparently_ this is horrible when you're Force Sensitive like Nalenn and I because it kicks us over to the deep end of the pool and we'll drown to keep us and instead be just our anger." Kaiadri blinked. "If...that made any sense, I'd like to request another cup of caf later. I think I've earned it."

"Will consider it, data hunter," Brishkah chortled, standing. "Keep up."

"Always do. Or do I need to remind you of Quesh?"

"Small hunter cheated."

"I always cheat, Brish. S'only way to win."

* * *

The tracks turned from shoe prints to fallen Flesh Raiders. Brishkah was weapons out and stalking the path alongside Kaiadri, who could sense that the Flesh Raiders' deaths were all fresh.

They followed this trail to a clearing in Tython's forests, where they could see two people standing alone. Kaiadri recognized the tall, blue Twi'lek as Nalen, but the shorter green Twi'lek was new to her. Nalen was perched on top of a dead Flesh Raider, his foot resting on the head and the other foot supporting him on the dead Raider's chest. The other Twi'lek stood a bit of a ways from him and looked to be approaching him.

"Nalen, we don't have to go to these lengths-"

"Ranna, we have to!" He roared. "That Jedi _hurt_ you. That Jedi doesn't care about our beliefs or our people's dreams. She is helping because she is a mindless weapon of the Jedi, but what will stop her from stabbing us into the dirt once she is done? To appease her Jedi superiors and her Republic senators and all of their legalities, ignoring us and our people as people and more as criminals-"

"We do not combat genocide with genocide!" Ranna cried, tears glittering in the sunlight.

Kaiadri paused behind Brishkah, Brishkah already running at the scene. She took a deep breath, willing time still as she muttered, "Given a one and a two, dealer has a five, double your bet, let yourself be hit." She closed her eyes, exhaling. Kaiadri opened her eyes, using the Force to pull Brishkah back from attacking and called, "Nalen! Buddy!"

She dodged a blaster bolt from him, dropping down to a knee and looking up at Nalen with a grin. "Nalen! That's not how we greet friends-"

"We are **not** friends, Kaiadri Sokol!" Nalen set his eyes on her, his blue eyes caught in the light of the sun and still somehow appearing dark as two cups of unsweetened caf. "You lie, you trick-"

"Nalen, I swear-"

"If you swear, swear on something that matters to you!" Nalen snarled. "You care not for the stars or my people's Goddess and I care not for your Force-"

"Cool, we agree on this front, the Force is shit," Kaiadri replied. Nalen blinked, as if she slapped him. Then he seemed to remember who she was, blinking again and setting his face into a firm expression with furrowed eyebrows. It was better than the snarling angry face he'd been sporting and that seemed to help Ranna relax.

"Swear on the life of your Theron Shan." Nalen leapt from his perch, using what Kaiadri recognized as a Force aided jump to glare down at her.

Kaiadri looked up at him, holding her hands behind her back. "Fine. You swear on your Ranna, I'll swear on my Theron." She twitched her fingers, to push Brishkah back a bit more. Killing Nalen wasn't the goal.

Nalen seemed appeased at that. He liked being right, so she wouldn't correct him that his assumed reason for why Theron mattered to her wasn't correct. During their card game, Nalen tried getting Kaiadri back for her teasing about Ranna by attaching to the only name Kaiadri had slipped about her life: Theron. Nalen couldn't be persuaded that Kaiadri didn't have feelings for him. If it gave her an in to help him, Kaiadri would take it.

He leaned back, standing up tall. Kaiadri tilted her head, keeping her arms and hands clearly in view now that he was being reasonable. Brishkah could be seen behind Nalen's back snorting and standing close to Ranna. It was a classic play on Kaiadri and Brishkah's parts: Kaiadri chatted up the angry terrorist and Brishkah got closer to the hostage. But that wasn't what this was. Nalen was someone who was hurting and Ranna had been trying to help, just like Kaiadri was now.

"I swear on the life of Theron Shan," she replied, copying the body posture and hand gestures she had studied from video footage of the Twi'lek pilgrims, "I swear on his life that every word out of my mouth is true and my motive as clear as the Goddess's tears, may Her light guide these proceedings."

Nalen wasn't good at hiding emotions, not under Kaiadri's eye. He kept eye contact, staring at her face with his eyes open _wide_. He quickly melted his surprise down into determination, putting his right fist on his chest. He moved his left hand, much more fluidly than she had and with much more practice. He made what looked like an elongated curve path with his hand, exactly as she had.

"I swear on the life of Ranna Tao'Ven," he replied, continuing through the process, "I swear on her life that every word out of my mouth is true and my motive is clear as the Goddess's tears, may Her light guide these proceedings."

"I haven't lied to you, Nalen," Kaiadri replied, "In anything I've ever told you. I swear on Theron."

"Then why have the Jedi sent Padawan Jazlyn, who spits on everything we believe in?" Nalen asked. "Why do they send their defender to spit on our future Matriarch?"

"Start from the beginning, Nalen," Kaiadri replied. "I can make guesses as to what Jazlyn did, but I wanna know these things from how you see them."

They sat down in the one spot of the clearing where Nalen hadn't left a Flesh Raider corpse. Nalen described Ranna coming to him as he came back from patrol, his shock at her in tears. Kaiadri could feel Ranna's embarrassment as Nalen explained the honor that Ranna offered to Jazlyn: for Jazlyn to become Ranna's sister through adoption. It was a sacred Twi'lek rite, especially so for the pilgrims. Jazlyn had shut her down in the rudest manner possible, which Kaiadri immediately knew why: Jedi don't get attachments. Nalen beat around the bush in describing his frustration and was especially dodgy about admitting his feelings of helplessness, but Kaiadri poked it out of him. And that's what caused this venture and the message he had sent for her at the temple.

"Well," Kaiadri replied, "given that I'm also a Jedi padawan, also knowing the same teachings as Jazlyn, I can tell you that what Jazlyn did was bantha poodoo according to damn near almost every Jedi teaching I've ever heard. And believe me, I've been having to hear quite a lot of teachings."

"You agreeing with how I see the situation doesn't fix the problem."

"No. But you know what does in an entirely nonviolent and completely petty manner?" Kaiadri asked, grinning from ear to ear. "Telling her master that Jazlyn committed a huge cultural and social nono. Jedi are all about understanding different cultures and working to adapt to them. Considering that this is definitely not the kind of culture that Jedi are opposed to, Master Orgus Din will have to listen and reprimand Jazlyn for it."

"So she gets a smack on the wrist and gets-"

"Nalen." Kaiadri smirked. "Let me tell you a secret about Jazlyn that I've picked up: she just wants to look good to everyone. She felt safe bullying Ranna because she thought Ranna wouldn't tell anyone that mattered. Jazlyn's doing her thing where she forgets that **everyone** matters. You tell on Jazlyn and Jazlyn will feel the shame of this for the next like...ten to twenty years. She gives off Mandalorian vibes and dishonor tends to rankle her, I've noticed. You can't hurt her like she hurt Ranna, but you can manage to knock her down several pegs."

Nalen hummed, looking down into his lap. Kaiadri sat up straight, each of her feet resting upon her thigh and gently stretching while he thought about what she said.

"You're the smartest Jedi I've ever met, Kaiadri Sokol," Nalen replied. "You are the first to acknowledge my people's beliefs, opening this discussion with traditional respect paid to the Goddess of my people. How would you have acted in Jazlyn's place?"

"Honestly? I would have said thanks, but no thanks. I'd be a terrible sister to Ranna and she deserves better than what I have to offer," Kaiadri replied. "I'd explain that family doesn't hold the same positive context for me as it obviously does her. I'd point out that I do, however, make a very good friend. And that lets me through loopholes with the Jedi code: we aren't supposed to have attachments, but no Jedi master is going to get pissy about someone having a friend. I don't know Ranna that well, or really...at all, but I'd rather keep a friend outside the Jedi Order so that I can remember what it's like to just be a person. You know what I've said about Jedi."

"It's all too easy for them to forget what it's like to be a person under the pressure to be a savior," Nalen replied.

"Exactly. Does that sound familiar to you?" Kaiadri teased, lightening her grin to a smile.

Nalen looked sheepish. "Maybe a little...perhaps I did forget myself under all the pressure."

"So no going after the Font of Rajivari? Least, not without me," Kaiadri replied. "Because, while we're being truthful and everything...you're my best friend on this whole planet right now, you little son of a Kath hound."

Nalen snorted. "Am I stuck with you, Kaiadri Sokol?"

"As long as I'm wanted, sure," Kaiadri replied, winking. She sprung to her feet, dragging him with her. "Now that was a good talk. You take Ranna home and I'll get the Jedi to stop panicking about you."

"Some day, I want my voice to be the reason that the Jedi turn to the drink," Nalen replied, snorting.

"We'll see about that," Kaiadri replied, snickering.

* * *

_Hotshot: wait. Let me get this straight, K._

_Hothead: If you can, sure!_

_Hotshot: You’re telling me that on top of being a mysteriously abandoned orphan, your great-great-great relatives could be two of the Jedi who rebuilt the Jedi Order after the Mandalorian War._

_Hothead: Yes._

_Hotshot: And this is all manifesting in your connection to the Force because you’re_ **that** _unlucky. Because the Universe has decided your life needed more bantha poodoo from also being a late bloomer in the Force, having the job you’ve had, and sticking you with Jonesy kriffing Balkan as a best friend._

_Hotshot: Because apparently, something thought you needed help in trying to keep up with me. The orphan thing was already good, K, you didn’t need more._

_Hothead: I mean._

_Hothead: We’re not that different when you put it like that._

_Hothead: Historically important Jedi ancestors_

_Hothead: Our job_

_Hothead: j Kriffing (capitalized because we both know that’s his REAL middle name) b as a best friend._

_Hotshot: Look, I’m just laughing because you always swore you’d outdo me at everything. And here you are! Outdoing me!_

_Hothead: Theron kriffingpoodoo Shan, Revan has enough historical importance that he outclasses Grandmaster Tatiana and Battlemaster Atton! Besides, there's no actual proof that I am this mystical heir to their legacy! There's no historical record of Tatiana and Atton having a child, not like there is for a certain Revan! I don't have the celebrated bloodline and family tree, that's all you!_

_Hotshot: Oh no, you are not trying to pin me as having the winning ribbon here, quantity over quality!_

_Hothead: Theron!_

_Hotshot: Oh ho, look at you! That’s twice breaking the name protocols on encrypted channels!_

_Hothead: Bite me, Data-spike Hair!_

_Hotshot: Kaiadri Sokol, I never thought you’d be this determined to lose at something in a competition with me._

Kaiadri closed her eyes, rolling over in her bed at the Temple. She stared up at her the ceiling of her small room, biting her lip as the datapad in her hand lit her face in a dim glow. Didn’t have to worry about her tears messing up her makeup since it was the middle of the night, having removed it before she’d gone to bed after a long day of chasing leads about Rajivari’s Font. Everything ached in a way that made her miss SIS operations miss home even more.

Same pains, different reasons. She wanted the old reasons back.

_Hotshot: Kai? You okay?_

_Hothead: not_

_Hothead: really tbh_

_Hothead: This is just another stone in the pile for me being an absolute freak. One of the other Padawans acts like being a Jedi is the best thing in the world. Hooray, I can rewrite people’s minds and tear the world apart at its seams! Just what I wanted for Life Day!_

_Hotshot: Didn’t you want some kind of slicing kit for Life Day?_

_Hothead: yeah. N7 deluxe data gathering and organizational kit, limited edition to the nar shaddaa red light gang_

_Hothead: you know what that’s not important._

_Hothead: the end thing is that i hate this. I hate my life._

_Hothead: kriffing hell, let me have my lowercases autocorrecting datapad_

_Hothead: end story: i hate my life i wanted to help people not be someone like my abuser and im just SURROUNDED by people with the same abilities, who dont know why it is WRONG to wave your hand and mind program people outside of their will_

_Hothead: I CAN DO THAT NOW AND IT SCARES THE KRIFFING HELL OUT OF ME THERON_

_Hothead: i dont want to be this_

_Hothead: i just want to go home and wake up to jonas breaking into my apartment to make me his stupid fluffy pancakes and ruffle my hair and call me sister while he thinks im too out of it to remember_

_Hothead: i want to go home and bingewatch jaqs’bawnd until every word out of my mouth is a quote from the movies and the tv show i pretend doesnt exist because its so bad_

_Hothead: i want to go home and steal your stupid kriffing jacket and_

_Hothead: i hate this_

_Hotshot: Well. I’d make a joke about telling me how you really feel, but that’d be crossing an arsehole line that I don’t think I should cross at the moment._

_Hotshot: Look. I know it all looks suffocating and hopeless and dark. Which is some kind of irony because Jedi = light, Sith = dark, and a Jedi environment is making you feel shut in the dark._

_Hotshot: I think you’ve got a good future ahead if you just get to Knight status._

_Hothead: how????_

_Hothead: how theron im having problems seeing it_

_Hotshot: Okay. So walk with me through potential future land._

_Hotshot: You become a Jedi Knight. You essentially become an agent again. Yeah, you’ve got the Force poodoo and a glow stick, but I don’t think everything’s gotta change. Sure, you can’t work for SIS, but you can do operations for the Republic once you’re cleared. When your dyed head is on straight, you’ve got a good head for leadership. If we pull enough strings, I think it’ll be easy for us to all work together if you wanna put up with me and Jonas still._

_Hotshot: Hell, I think you can requisition people for a crew for operations. You’ll be a Jedi, we’ve all complained about Jedi being able to hop over red tape. And now you can dance with it!_

_Hothead: I mean._

_Hotshot: im not wrong and we both know it. Kaiadri, believe me, I get where you’re coming from on the whole Jedi thing. I know how they can act there, especially the new Padawans._

_Hotshot: you know how the republic frames the jedi as these great heroes. They’re just excited they get to be the heroes now and they haven’t seen and experienced the same poodoo you have._

_Hotshot: Just weather the storm and I’m 65% sure that you can get away with not visiting Tython except for big time stuff. You can keep your Jedi superiors at a nice safe distance from you with a comm. unit._

_Hothead: i dunno if it’ll be that easy, theron_

_Hotshot: c’mon kai. Give the best shot you’ve ever seen some credit here._

_Hothead: im sorry, since when were you the reflection in my mirror????_

_Hotshot: there’s the kaiadri i know and love. Get some sleep, it’s gotta be late over there._

_Hothead: ...more like early. We uh...may have spent the last three hours of night before the sun rises over here talking out my insecurity crap and hashing out the whole family situation on my end._

_Hotshot: stars, kaiadri, we talked for three hours and didn’t get into an argument! What will the others think?_

_Hothead: i suppose Ron’theril and Dri’kai will have to increase bets in certain things and cash in on the betting pool in SIS_

_Hotshot: HA get some of their cash in our pockets, fake out a few things?_

_Hothead: teaches them to have a betting pool with a very lax security system, now doesn’t it?_

_Hotshot: stars, i missed the poodoo-eating schemes that you come up with for how to flip that on its head._

_Hothead: you mean you missed meeeeeeeeee because all my schemes wear poodoo-eating grins_

_Hothead: its to match their mama ;)_

_Hotshot: ha, got that in the genetic pool, that’s for sure. And yeah_

_Hotshot: maybe i did miss you. But we both know that you’ve come clean with missing me more_

_Hothead: imagine a ver long sigh. Very*. You know the kind that i do._

_Hotshot: the one with the pinched nosebridge and the hip bump into my side?_

_Hothead: that one. Thats what id be doing right now_

_Hotshot: uh huh, sure, sport. Go get up, you have another glorious day of being a jedi ahead of you._

_Hothead: which reminds me. Thanks for poking into the criminal record and cultural files I asked you to._

_Hotshot: For your op, Still Words? Yeah, it was easy._

_Hothead: Still, I appreciated it. Thanks for the favor._

_Hotshot: Eh, I’m bored stuck here at a desk anyway. This jacket wasn’t made for deskwork._

_Hothead: Neither of us were made for deskwork. At least I'm not stuck behind a desk ;)_

_Hotshot: oh ha HA now you're going to snicker about it._

_Hothead: what can i say, you've made me feel better about everything~_

_Hotshot: glad im good for that much_

_Hothead: the big man's just pissin' in your cereal, hotshot, because the bigger man is pissin' in his_

_Hothead: i know it sucks and you feel like you're wasting away, but hey_

_Hothead: when I grab you up as part of my crew, you'll never do unnecessary desk work again and definitely not work i'd shy away from myself if i have time to tackle it_

_Hotshot: Looking forward to it then._

_Hothead: How's little sister doing?_

_Hotshot: Oh. You know. Her business is rough and I'm worried. Might take a week of my vacation time to go look into what she's up to since she's not taking my calls._

_Hothead: careful with that or else it'll look like you're obsessed_

_Hotshot: You're right. I'll be careful._

_Hothead: if you do see her, tell her i said hi_

_Hotshot: if I do that, she'll ask when the wedding is_

_Hothead: damn, i liked her! but then she had to betray me like this by joining the pile of people who think we've got romantic feelings for each other_

_Hotshot: I know, right? We're just good friends. Not all rivals become lovers._

_Hothead: Bingo._

_Hothead: I'm gonna get going. Thanks again for the data_

_Hotshot: No problem. Anything for a friend._

Kaiadri shut off her data-pad, sitting up. She reviewed the psych data on Nalen, doing her best to keep herself focused with the little sleep. She kept finding herself reading the same line "has been known to be oblivious to his own feelings" over and over again until she gave a deep sigh and stood up.

Time to face the music.

* * *

"Kaiadri, you don't have to-"

"Shoooooooosh, Master Yuon, lemme operate here."

"You are no longer an SIS agent-"

"I know, this is just what I'm used to.”

"This is much more work than what's necessary-”

"Welcome to how SIS keeps up with Jedi, we overachieve until we’re screaming mentally.”

“...suddenly, every operation with non-Force Users makes sense.”

Kaiadri snorted, finishing the last highlight in her data-pad notes. “You could hear that?”

“If they were not careful, yes,” Yuon chuckled. “Now, this presentation.”

Kaiadri straightened, folding an arm behind her back and holding the data-pad in the other.

“Operation: _Still Words_ ,” Kaiadri replied, tapping at the controls for the holo-grid. A map of the area they were searching the section of Tython around the main temple was their best bet. Complete with the Kalikori village, training grounds, various ruin sites, and everywhere else Kaiadri had been physically scouring over the past several days was lit up in blue. The map came to life in blue 3D holographic detail from all of Kaiadri’s scouting and sampling. Kaiadri circled the table to the side opposite from Yuon, eyes flicking from Yuon to the map. "Operation: Still Words focuses on the objective of recollecting Jedi holocrons from the Disciples of the Founders. We have in our possession the holocrons of Master Garon Jarn, disciple of Master Bao-Dur; of Master Cala Brin, disciple of Master Visas Marr; and of Master Ters, disciple of Master Mical Ardonel.”

"That leaves Master Rajivari, disciple of Master Atton Rand," Yuon replied. "Which you have in our possession through negotiating with a Kalikori villager named Nalen Raloch."

"Yes, ma'am, but as you know, there's more," Kaiadri replied, "there's Master Rajivari's Font of Knowledge floating about somewhere, according to his holocron. Had to talk Nalen out of pursuing the Font himself."

"Such knowledge would be dangerous to anyone, especially someone without training in the Force."

Kaiadri nodded. “I’ve more or less followed standard procedure: I’ve generated a map of the area that we can discern is where the Font is and also figuring out potential risk factors,” Kaiadri explained, pausing to flick a flinger at her notes. "We've got local fauna there's more pockets of Fleshraiders here, here, aaaaaand here."

She poked at the map, orange pockets growing from her touch and the data Jazlyn was reporting in. "Padawan Jazlyn and Master Orgus are still investigating the Flesh Raider situation, but they've limited the population to their camps with the help of a squad of volunteers led by Nalen Raloch from the Kalikori village and a pack of padawans. Then there's the local uxibeasts, which don't pose a threat unless stampeding; guids, which are just territorial; horranths, which are territorial _and_ aggressive; and there's a group of malfunctioning, ancient Tythonian training droids that are aggressive against anything Force sensitive."

The map was slowly becoming pockets of color as she listed off the possible threats, poking their territories onto the map. Yuon watched with interest and pride, a small smile on her lips as Kaiadri scrolled down.

"More or less, objective now is to locate the Font and make sure nobody can use that knowledge to hurt people," Kaiadri replied. "Sounds about right to you, Master?"

"Sounds correct to me."

"Permission to pursue?"

Yuon chuckled, nodding. "Permission granted. Do what you feel is necessary to find the Font. I shall provide what resources I can to help you."

Kaiadri cracked her knuckles, smiling. "Just what I like to hear, Master."

 


End file.
